


Benediction

by Chamaelirium



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Genre: Epilogue, F/M, I have a lot of feelings, TRoS Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21859933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chamaelirium/pseuds/Chamaelirium
Summary: I wrote a similar piece to this a long time ago, imagining Sarah (Labyrinth) at the end of her life finally being reunited with Jareth, so please excuse me if they seem to overlap just a little ❤️
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73





	Benediction

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a similar piece to this a long time ago, imagining Sarah (Labyrinth) at the end of her life finally being reunited with Jareth, so please excuse me if they seem to overlap just a little ❤️

________________________

The sounds of childish laughter drifted behind her. In the years of peace, settlements had grown, throughout the forests of Takodana and many other planets, life rushing to fill the spaces left behind by darkness and fear. Children of children born in the freedom that followed the defeat of the mighty Sith Lord and the Final Order, children who had never known the same fear and pain their parents had, who had been allowed to breathe the fresh air free of oppression since they day they were born. Children of children who carried the faces of those she loved, of the many who had become like family to her, who had filled some of the void that had been left behind by those who had gone before.

Grief, Rey had discovered many years before, walked with you daily, sometimes without even being aware of its presence. Years spent waiting for a family that never came, grief etched into the marks on the walls left behind at the end of each day. Grief that taught her patience, taught her how to wait, sat with her during the endless cold desert nights.

There had been many bright days also, to balance the ache inside that never entirely went away. The joys of watching her young students discover their abilities and use them, not for battle, but for healing, growing, for giving life. Her not so young student, Finn, sitting on the floor with the youngest of them, eyes serious even as Rey had to fight to keep from giggling at the sight. None were particularly surprised at the abilities that surfaced within him, least of all Rey. He was now a Master, and passed on his knowledge to others, as Rey had once taught him.

Sometimes Rey walked alone, as she did now, through the lush forests with towering trees, breathing in the dampness and smell of fallen leaves, moss, and streams of fresh water. She had lived more life here than ever spent in the desert, and even now her soul still felt like it was rehydrating, pulling in the moisture and life that she had been missing. Sometimes the children trailed along with her for a while, and she would often stop and point out to them this plant or that one, or duck into the undergrowth and spy on a family of deer like creatures, watching quietly as the young animals jumped around their parents and seemed to play together like the children also did.

Today she walked alone, the children busy with their game, smiling and waving as she passed them. Although her hair was white, and she carried her quarterstaff more as a walking staff, her body was still straight and strong, as lean and wiry as it was in her youth, and she walked quickly down the path that was well worn by the feet of many. The late afternoon sun was golden where it pierced the forest canopy, and delicate insects with lace like wings danced in the beams. Rey filled her lungs with the warm, damp air as she walked, feeling the life of the forest flowing around her, knowing the path ahead so well that she almost needed no physical sight.

She followed the path of the setting sun and walked until she arrived at a cliffs edge, seating herself cross legged beneath the single mighty tree that grew close to oblivion, but had never been toppled. She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face as it crept slowly beneath the horizon.

There it was, the turning of the planet, the dance of the star that warmed it by day, the smaller satellites that orbited it. She could feel the life of the forest beneath her, the familiar signature of the beings that lived in the settlement nearby, the birds and animal life that crawled, flew and ran on the planets surface. It flowed into her and around the spaces that grief had left behind.

Han. Leia. Luke. Those who had passed peacefully in their sleep since the war ended. Those she had been unable to save during the battles with the First Order and then Palpatine and his forces. Her parents, dying to save her life. Each loss had changed her, left behind a part of her soul, torn away one piece at a time.

The largest space was the one she tried not to acknowledge. It was like a gaping worm hole in her chest, feeling as though it reached down through her very soul. It was the space where _he_ was supposed to live. Even now her mind skirted the raw edges of it, refused to acknowledge the hurt, the fact that it had never really healed, never been accepted. It still felt fresh, like the slightest jolt could set her heart to bleeding again.

The sudden cold of the sun as it slipped below the horizon was a shock on her skin, and it caused her eyes to fly open. Black sky, velvet with silver stars in great sparking swathes spread across it, met her vision. She blinked again, looking around for the sunset which should have been staining the sky before her. Nothing met her eyes but the endless dunes that were constantly being shifted and changed by the persistent desert wind. Beneath her she felt sand, soft and cool, and instinctively put down a hand to push her fingers into it, testing to see if it was real or a vision.

And then.

 _He_ was there.

He knelt, in the sand, head downcast, dark hair hanging down and covering his face. Rey felt her entire body slow to a halt, her lungs cease the pull of now dry air, her heart and bloodstream stutter to a halt at the sight. His tall, powerful form was bent forward, humbled. His loose, sand coloured robes lifted slightly in the breeze, the grains of sand hissing around him slightly.

Rey was frozen in place, feeling the weight of decades on her, the wound inside torn open and bleeding violently, not daring to hope. When she heard his low whisper carry to her on the breeze, the shock jolted through her like electricity.

“ _Rey_ ,”

She struggled to stand, pushing her body against the weight that threatened to pin her to the shifting sands. It released her at last, falling behind her with a dull thud and she stood, hands hanging down by her sides, feet sinking slightly into the sand.

One step. Then another. Rey could not remember when she had stopped breathing, could not remember when walking forwards had become a near impossible task, but she slowly drew nearer, waiting for the cruel blow to come, for him to dissolve before her as he had done once before, for her to be alone once again.

One step. Then another. She was close enough to see starlight tangled in his hair. Tentatively, her hand reached out, fingers longing to thread themselves through those dark strands, to feel them, to know they were real. The shock that ran through both their bodies when she finally made contact was visceral, her hand jerking back and his face lifting towards hers.

For a moment she saw him, as he had been before her saber had slashed across his face, before so many things had happened that perhaps never should have. And in that moment before he hung his head once more, she saw his eyes. _Oh_ _Maker_ , _his_ _eyes_...

Both hands this time went out to him, no hesitation this time. Fingers slid through silken locks, nails scraped gently over his skull, and she heard his breath catch at the contact. It made her aware that she had begun breathing again, air filling and emptying her lungs raggedly.

One of his hands came up to cover hers and warmth rushed down her arm like molten metal, to that place inside her that had been raw and unhealed for so long, until it felt like she was overflowing with light. They were both still, a tableau against the spinning stars, both feeling the rush and healing of the bond that had been the sharing of life force between them. The Force seemed to sing with joy, and Rey felt as though the stars were joining in the song she could sense all around her. Again his voice came, low and rough, as though he had forgotten how to speak.

“Rey. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I left you alone...” wetness splashed onto the sand before him and she realised he was weeping, tears dripping from his face that was still downturned. She took one step further forward and now both arms were cradling his head, as his arms slid around her waist and held her tightly. He buried his face into her stomach and Rey wept with him, feeling the loss of those wasted years that they were apart, even as the memory of them began to fade. Her own tears dropped to the crown of his head - a baptism, a benediction, forgiveness when there was nothing to forgive.

He had selflessly given himself to bring her life again, a Skywalker coming to save her when Palpatine had mockingly said that none were left to come to her rescue. Rey slid to her knees, hands now on either side of his face. The contact alone was bliss after the pain of separation, and as she lifted his face to make him look at her, she could see the same joy reflected in his tear-wet eyes. A shy smile was all she could manage, feeling overwhelmed now to be where she had always wanted to be, and he returned it, his lips lifting at one corner.

One hand came up to stroke her cheek, and she felt her eyes drifting shut at his touch, the slow burn spreading over her skin as his fingers moved downwards. His fingers now curled around the back of her neck gently, oh so gently, as though he too had been afraid she would disappear at any moment if he was too forceful. Then his lips were on hers, finally, finally, and they were complete again, the Force roaring around them now in triumph, a tornado of sand enclosing them at its heart. He was warm and alive and tender and once again Rey found the need to breathe had become somehow optional.

When they finally pulled apart, reluctantly, to rest their foreheads together, Rey said what she had been wanting to ask him for years.

“Ben, why didn’t you come to me sooner?” She thought of the times she had seen the presence of Luke and Leia over the years, and the times she had yearned to have even just that of him, to be able to see him once more.

He laughed softly and looked a little ashamed. “I was afraid that if I came to you, you would want to...” he indicated behind her and she turned, aware now of something she had left behind, laying in the sand. She felt no attachment to it anymore, just a curiosity as though seeing something long forgotten. “The galaxy needed you Rey. It’s why I did what I did. You’ve changed the lives of so many, brought hope, taught love. I couldn’t call you before, even if I selfishly wanted to.” There was that quirking of the lips again, the prelude to a smile.

Rey understood now, and, lifting her hands to his face, kissed him gently. First on the smiling corner of his mouth, then the place where the scar had bisected his face, then his forehead, again feeling like she was somehow bestowing a blessing. Now it was his turn to close his eyes and she simply looked at him for a moment, her heart so full of love that she felt it might burst. Her lips found his again and they were lost, closer than two separate beings had ever been before, spirits overlapping one another. And then there was no time, and no limitations, there was only the Force.

___________________________________________________

All the searchers found, when they had looked all night, was her clothing, staff, and lightsaber. Knowing what it meant, a great mourning had gone out to them all, and tears flowed as freely as the rain than now poured on the forest. Finn had performed the ceremony that was to bring closure to many, tears streaming down his face as he spoke of his closest friend and teacher. The children brought flowers to lay on the stone where they had carved her name, her chosen name.

And in the sky above, many swore they could see shining in the far reaches of the galaxy, a binary sun. Young and bright, the twin stars circled each other for all eternity.


End file.
